Dot 4 instead of 5....
 

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[Closed] Dot 4 instead of 5.1 - will I die?

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Posts: 13
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My friend has left his new bike with me to bleed his elixir 1 brakes. Just finished and they work well but packing up I notice I have used dot 4 fluid. Surely they'll be fine - or is the whole system going to explode in a ball of flames and kill him (and worse still me if i'm riding with him!).


 
Posted : 02/08/2012 12:21 pm
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Should be fine. Dot 5 is not compatible with Dot 5.1 though.


 
Posted : 02/08/2012 12:26 pm
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No should about it, its perfectly safe.


 
Posted : 02/08/2012 12:27 pm
Posts: 117
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Ah don't worry. He'll never know...this is all cash in hand anyway right?


 
Posted : 02/08/2012 12:28 pm
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Topic starter
 

Cool - thought so. No cash changed hands - four bottles of Dartmoor Jail ale tho! 😀


 
Posted : 02/08/2012 12:34 pm
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It'll be fine, unless he pushes them to the edge of their thermal window normally, in which case you've lost him a narrow margin of fluid boiling temps.


 
Posted : 02/08/2012 12:39 pm
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It'll be fine, unless he pushes them to the edge of their thermal window normally, in which case you've lost him a narrow margin of fluid boiling temps.

Actually, he's more likely to do that by using poorer quality dot 5.1 fluid. Actual dry boiling temperatures vary more by manufacture and quality than "dot" standard.


 
Posted : 02/08/2012 12:41 pm
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That's right actually ^.

DOT 4 and 5.1 are glycol ether based and are compatible with each other, the worse thing that could happen is that you'll reduce the overall boiling temperature by adding in the DOT 4 but fresh DOT 4 is better than old DOT 5.1 anyway so no harm done.

As previously stated the one which you definitely don't want to use is DOT 5 which is silicone based and is not compatible with the others.


 
Posted : 02/08/2012 2:13 pm

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